The training course "Open Windows" took place in Italy, from 1 to 8 November 2014. The training course involved 33 youth workers from 9 different countries: Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Croatia, Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria. The participants were volunteers, trainers and youth workers, representing a mixed group of youth workers and youth with fewer opportunities, that met to learn new methods and tools used in youth work, develop their inter-cultural communication and leadership skills, improve their digital skills, and raise their voices on regards to new tools to be used in youth work, as well as share the youth practices. Thus, enriching their knowledge, skills and competencies in youth field. This training was facilitated by creative activities, excursions and special workshops using informal and non formal methods. The project proposal followed these general objectives: - Share best practices and promote the cooperation in the youth field, through developing common projects, actions and initiatives - Develop skills and competence of youth workers in the field of inter-cultural communication, leadership and digital skills - Share and introduce new approaches in youth work - Promote quality and innovation in the area of youth work By the end of this project the participants were able to:- Reflect on their individual needs, motivation, attitudes and behavior in working with young people;- Develop self-awareness on their contribution on the process of empowerment of young people;- Have a better understanding of the elements and importance of a “learning environment”;- Analyze the needs of young people they work with;- Develop a need-based approach to provoke self-initiative and active attitude;- Support young people to take responsibility for their personal and career development;- Broaden their horizon via different ideas, tools, methods and best practices- learn how to identify and work with partners - develop inter cultural communication and leadership skills - improve and/or develop digital skillsPositive youth development is becoming increasingly influential in the field of youth programming, in the field of youth involvement and youth social engagement, however, youth serving association and NGOs throughout the Europe face obstacles in the creation of a stable and well-trained workforce. Despite the many resourceful individuals who work within the community there is still an insufficient foundation of workers and leaders. Many of them lack sound knowledge and skills such as project drafting in order to present a good project proposal; such as project implementation in order to successfully implement an action; such as building partnerships that could not only broaden the areas of actions but bring knowledge into the organization and provide capacity building for the organization members; such as intercultural communication and leaderships skill that could help association members to communicate their project ides as well as lead a local action; such as digital skills to keep up with the new technological development and its implication in social work. Thus, there is a strong need of projects that will provide organized staff development to enhance youth workers knowledge, skills and abilities as well as prepare new youth workers and which are one of the stepping stones to building a stronger base for youth community involvement. In order to address these needs the actual project proposal is presented and which will follow these general objectives: 1. Develop the ability of youth workers to turn ideas into projects by acquiring a deeper understanding of (the backgrounds of) the project life cycle 2. Share best practices and promote the cooperation in the youth field, through developing common projects, actions and initiatives 3. Develop skills and competence of youth workers in the field of intercultural communication, leadership and digital skills 4. Share and introduce new approaches in youth work 5. Promote quality and innovation in the area of youth work By the end of this project the participants will be able to:- Reflect on their individual needs, motivation, attitudes and behavior in working with young people;- Develop self-awareness on their contribution on the process of empowerment of young people;- Have a better understanding of the elements and importance of a “learning environment”;- Analyze the needs of young people they work with;- Develop a need-based approach to provoke self-initiative and active attitude;- Support young people to take responsibility for their personal and career development;- Broaden their horizon via different ideas, tools, methods and best practices- learn to draft project proposal and transform ideas into projects- learn how to implement a project, avoid the risks and challenges - learn how to identify and work with partners - develop inter cultural communication and leadership skills - improve and/or develop digital skills The long term Training course “ Open windows”, will take place in Spain (A1) and Italy (A2). During the trainings, the participants : volunteers, trainers and youth workers, representing a mixed group of youth workers and youth with fewer opportunities, from 9 different countries (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Croatia, Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria ) will meet to learn about project management/drafting/implementation/evaluation, learn new methods and tools used in youth work, develop their inter cultural communication skills and leadership skills, improve their digital skills, and raise their voices on regards to development of innovative tools to use in youth work, as well as share the youth practices, thus enriching their knowledge, skills and competencies in this field. This training will be facilitated by creative activities, excursions and special workshops using informal and non formal methods. The activities are planed to be done in multicultural teams thus the participants will have the opportunity to gain experience in a multicultural environment.